Thanks Oscar and morning crew. Half-time round-up: Tailwinds...

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Tailwinds from broker upgrades, commodity prices and soaring US equity futures failed to inspire Australian shares following mild losses on Wall Street on Friday.

The ASX 200 faded to a mid-session loss of six points or 0.1% at 5984 as traders played wait-and-see ahead of what is expected to be a positive open in the US tonight after the Senate passed its version of a tax bill following the close of trade on Wall Street on Friday. Dow futures surged 198 points or 0.82% this morning as hopes rose that a compromise bill will become law before Christmas. The Senate and the House still need to find common ground on a final bill before sending it to President Trump. S&P 500 futures were up 16 points or 0.61%.

Back home, the metals & mining sector rallied 1% on improvements in iron ore, copper and other base metals on Friday, plus news that Citi upgraded its outlook for the big miners. The materials sector put on 0.9%, telecoms 2.3% and energy 0.6%. Holding the market back were declines in financials -0.8%, health -0.6% and utilities -0.3%.

China's Shanghai Composite lost 0.17%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.23% and Japan's Nikkei 0.21%.

Crude oil futures declined 29 cents or 0.5% this morning to US$58.07 a barrel. Gold futures dropped $4.40 or 0.34% to US$1,277.90 an ounce. The dollar was buying 75.95 US cents.


Curious that those positive US futures appear to be having no impact on sentiment here. Admittedly Trump's tax cut is primarily a US issue, but all the same, it's relevant for global market sentiment. Trading: punched tickets in SSM, ZLD and ZNO.